In Humanity: borders, detention, human rights

These Walls Must fall campaigners in Manchester have been working with digital artist Kooj Chuhan on an art installation and exhibition at the People’s History Museum.

In Humanity art installation and exhibition

1st – 23rd February 2020
at People’s History Museum
Manchester M3 3ER

Over six weeks Kooj worked with campaigners from the These Walls Must Fall campaign in manchester. Their own experiences of the detention system as well as ideas and knowledge from research and campaign resources fed into the creative process.

The main In Humanity installation room combines spoken readings, video screens, steel fencing, embroidery, and a huddled up body. As Kooj explains, “I wanted to merge authentic human emotion and personal reality with the wider social and political contexts that frame our destiny.

Viva DeclarationSat 22 February, 2.00pm – 4.30pm

In celebration of the last weekend of the Disrupt? Peterloo and Protest exhibition, join this visual and musical journey with compositions specially created and performed by Tagné Tebu, a multi-instrumentalist coming from a mix of jazz, African, Latin and Indo-Arabic influences. The show is led by live visual projections from video artist Kooj Chuhan, and features special guest musician Helen Summerfield on saxophone and flute. Viva Declaration will use poetic visuals and documentary sequences to connect migration with colonial history, economics, human rights and contemporary protest for migration justice. The critical questions and emotions have never been so relevant then here and right now in post-Brexit UK.

Committed To Represent

The accompanying display wall presents a parallel set of posters originally created by Kooj for Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit titled ‘Committed To Represent‘. An exhibition of photography and texts originally created as a series of large A1 size portable panels, twelve in all. This is currently exhibited in a semi-permanent home at Garden Court Chambers in Manchester.

The Declaration Project

The Declaration project is led by the current Viva Declaration! performance by Tagné+Kooj which will be premiered at People’s History Museum on Saturday 22nd February 2020 from 2pm. This is a performance of global-jazz music and live-mixed video about migration and borders. By using poetic visuals and documentary sequences against a musical landscape it connects migration with colonial history, economics, political and environmental conflicts, human rights, contemporary protest and campaigns for migration justice.

The project emerged from decades of work around migration and related issues by Kooj Chuhan who has maintained grass roots connections while also gaining awards and being exhibited internationally. The critical questions and vivid emotions raised by Viva Declaration! have never been so relevant than here and right now in post-Brexit UK. The In Humanity installation was originally created to accompany the Viva Declaration performance at People’s History Museum, to enrich the connections with and understanding of the issues for audiences.

These Walls Must Fall is an initiative coordinated by Right to Remain. We are building a network of community campaigns to raise awareness of and challenge the use of immigration detention in the UK. We are extremely grateful for the financial support through charitable grant funding from Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Ben and Jerry's, and from public donations.